High common childhood illnesses while treatment seeking behavior of mothers’/care givers’ was low at rural northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: In most developing countries, childhood illness and deaths are among the most challenging health issues. Most of these deaths were due to preventable causes including acute respiratory infections (ARI), diarrhea, and febrile illnesses. Thus, identification of determinants of childhood illness would help to guide strategic planning and prioritize interventions.Method: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select households and mothers/caregivers. A total of 2,158 mothers with at least one under-five child were included. Mothers were interviewed at their homes using structured questionnaire. Adjusted Odds Ratio with a 95% Confidence Interval and P-value <0.05 in the multivariable model were reported to show the significance and direction of association.Result: The overall prevalence of childhood illnesses was 16.5% (95% CI: 15.0, 18.2). Of all, 6.5% (95% CI: 5.5, 6.72), 7.5% (95% CI: 6.5, 8.76), and 12.0% (95% CI: 10.66, 13.40) had diarrhea, ARI, and fever, respectively. The treatment-seeking behavior of mothers/care-givers for any of the childhood illness was 22.7% (18.72, 27.42). The odds of childhood illness was higher among mothers’ age 15-19 years (AOR=2.87-; 95% CI: 1.33, 6.13), employed mothers’ (AOR=2.28; 95%CI: 1.84, 4.39), living far away from nearest health center (AOR=1.02; 95%CI: 1.01, 1.03), two under-five children (AOR=1.33;95%CI: 1.029,1.74) and three or more children in the house (AOR=2.70; 95%CI: 1.12, 6.53). About 22.8% (95% CI: 18.7, 27.4) of mothers/caregivers sought health care. Mothers’ occupation (AOR= 4.08 (95% CI: 1.35, 12.39) was the only independent predictor of treatment-seeking behavior.Conclusion: In this study, common childhood illnesses remain high while the treatment-seeking behavior of the mothers’/caregivers’ was low. Mothers’ age, occupation, distance from the nearest health center, and two or more children in the house were independent factors of childhood illness. Being a skilled/semi-skilled mothers was significantly associated with health-seeking behavior of mothers/caregivers. Thus, involving women in skilled/semi-skilled occupations would help in decreasing childhood illness and enhance health-seeking behaviors for their under-five children. Besides, providing access to health care facilities in their nearby area would be essential in reducing childhood illness.

Level of Mothers’/Caregivers’ Healthcare-Seeking Behavior for Child’s Diarrhea, Fever, and Respiratory Tract Infections and Associated Factors in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Based on the study setting, three of the studies were conducted in Addis Ababa [ 11 , 17 , 21 ], two in the Tigray region [ 18 , 42 ], seven in the Amhara region [ 20 , 22 , 23 , 25 – 27 , 37 ], seven in the Oromia region [ 15 , 32 – 35 , 38 , 43 ], one in the SNNP region [ 24 ], one in the Benishangul region [ 39 ], and four were conducted nationwide [ 16 , 36 , 40 , 41 ]. Regarding the illness category, fifteen studies were conducted by including all the three childhood diarrhea, fever, and respiratory tract infections at the same time [ 15 , 17 , 20 – 25 , 27 , 32 , 33 , 36 – 38 , 42 ], four were for diarrhea only [ 18 , 21 , 26 , 43 ], three were for fever only [ 34 , 35 , 39 ], and three were for ARI only [ 16 , 40 , 41 ] ( Table 1 ).…”

Magnitude of Common Childhood Illness, Health Care Seeking Behavior, and Associated Factors in Efratana Gidim District, East Amhara, Ethiopia, 2020

“…In Ethiopia, although signi cant achievements have been made under-ve child mortality is still high accounting 55 deaths per 1000 live births (2) And the top leading causes were infectious diseases mainly diarrheal disease (25%), pneumonia (21%) and malaria (26%) (3) Common childhood illnesses are communicable diseases which is responsible for considerable underve child morbidity and mortality particularly in low and middle-income countries across the world. Diarrheal disease, febrile illness and acute Respiratory infections are among the leading cause of childhood illnesses (4) To reduce under-ve child morbidity and mortality timely and appropriate healthcare-seeking behavior of caregivers' do have a signi cant contribution (5), despite that a large number of children still died before reaching health facilities due to delayed and inappropriate healthcare seeking(6). Hence WHO suggested that appropriate healthcare-seeking practice can effectively save the lives of children by 20%, particularly from an acute respiratory infection (7).…”